Ten Launch Catch Up TV Service

Taking a lesson from ABC-TV's very successful iView catch-up service, the Ten Network group has launched its own catch-up site, dubbed Tenplay. It joins iView and Seven's Plus7 catch-up service.

But Ten chief digital officer Rebekah Horne - pictured - is suggesting the other commercial TV channels, Seven and Nine, should get together to launch joint subscription movie and program services ahead of possible new services to be offered Down Under by US streaming giants.

"Our view is that you have to aggregate and come together otherwise the economics don't work," she has said. "There are not enough people in the country to support five or six different attempts at this."

Tenplay will be available on mobile, tablets and via game consoles and smart TVs. Initially it will be compatible with Apple iOS and Sony Bravia TVs, with Google's Android operation system to follow later this year.

Horne says Tenplay will also be deployed on a future hybrid broadcast broadband TV (HbbTV) service "at a later date".

A continuous-play feature is planned that will enable viewers to move seamlessly from device to device. "You might be watching on a laptop and then you jump on a bus, but you can continue watching on a smartphone," says Rebekah Horne.